Canucks 2, Senators 1

Associated Press

OTTAWA (AP) -Roberto Luongo came up with all the saves the Vancouver Canucks needed to win, especially when their offense spent the entire third period in their own zone.

Luongo made 34 saves, Rory Fitzpatrick scored his first goal of the season and Vancouver beat the Ottawa Senators 2-1 on Thursday night.

Taylor Pyatt had a goal and an assist in the second period for the Canucks, who won their third straight to end Ottawa's season-high five-game winning streak.

"Our (penalty-killing) was solid again tonight, but without a doubt Luongo was the difference," coach Alain Vigneault said. "He's the guy that permitted us to win. They outplayed us totally in the third period and he shut them down."

Luongo, who stopped 30 shots Tuesday in a 4-0 win in Montreal for his third shutout of the season, had 10 saves in the first period and 11 in the second before Daniel Alfredsson scored 8:13 into the third to pull the Senators within one.

"We had built up a two-goal lead so we were just trying to preserve the lead pretty much in the third," Luongo said. "They got one, but we were able to contain them the rest of the way."

His shutout streak ended at 154 minutes, 42 seconds. Luongo hadn't allowed a goal since Saturday when Bates Battaglia scored 13:31 into the first period of the Canucks' 6-1 win in Toronto.

Vancouver failed to get a shot on Ray Emery in the third, and was outshot 35-14 overall.

"I've maybe got one or two shots in a period before, but never none," Emery said. "It's not a bad thing when you're behind a couple of goals. We threw a bunch at their net and only managed to get one, but it was definitely different, not facing any shots."

Ottawa failed to tie the score despite enjoying 1:05 of 5-on-3 play when Vancouver's Matt Cooke was sent off with 8:15 remaining after he crosschecked Alfredsson as the Senators' captain carried the puck at center ice.

"In a tight game, that's when you need to score," Alfredsson said. "We did give it everything we had in the third. We had some good chances and we just couldn't get it by Luongo."

Ottawa, which had won 10 of its previous 12 games (10-1-1), fell to third in the Northeast Division, one point behind Montreal.

Fitzpatrick, a Rochester, N.Y., native who narrowly missed going to next week's All-Star game as the beneficiary of a grassroots write-in campaign, scored his first Vancouver goal in his 31st game of the season.

The journeyman who finished third in fan voting for Western Conference defensemen flipped a shot towards the net which Emery misplayed as the puck struck his glove and dropped behind him into the net. The goal 13:00 into the second put the Canucks up by two after Pyatt got credit for his 12th goal earlier in the period.

"It's nice to contribute and getting the game-winning goal, it's more special," Fitzpatrick said. "If I get to score a goal, I think it's pretty special, anyway. It's nice. I've gotten a lot of attention and a lot of mention of my stats, so now they can't say I don't have any goals."

Alfredsson made it a one-goal game in the third when he redirected Dany Heatley's pass inside the right post for his 17th goal.

Emery - who stopped 12 shots, all in the first two periods - dove to cover up a loose puck in the crease 8:45 in shortly after Senators defenseman Chris Phillips sprawled to block Jan Bulis' sharp-angle backhand towards an open right side.

Vancouver opened the scoring on a power play 5:29 into the second when former Senators defenseman Sami Salo's one-timer from the right point off Markus Naslund's pass struck Pyatt's right skate and went past Emery inside the right post.

Ryan Kessler came close to giving the Canucks a two-goal lead on a short-handed 2-on-1 midway through the middle period, but the Vancouver center lost control of the puck while going to his backhand.

Notes: Luongo has never shut out Ottawa. He had a 3.60 goals-against-average and a 3-11-1 overall record against the Senators in 15 previous appearances with Florida and the New York Islanders. ... Fitzpatrick, who has played 241 regular season games overall, scored each of his nine previous goals for Buffalo over the last three seasons. He has also played for Nashville, St. Louis and Montreal. ... The game drew a sellout crowd of 19,161 fans.